Good Morning Sentinel News;
1st, thank you for your newspaper, I truly appreciate your views and articles which seem to always be in line with my beliefs and standards. I really wish I could say the same for the St. Ex.
Earlier this year, we were able to purchase the home and lot next to our business at 2389 N. 2000 W. in Farr West. Our intent was to demolish the house as it was in such deplorable condition. As my crews started removing the Lath and Plaster, they notified me they had found something. There was a log home underneath the surface walls. There were several coats of Lime Whitewash covering the logs and chinking. The walls were very unstable, and I instructed the crews to dismantle it and haul it away.
Because of a job commitment I had to pull the crews off the next day, or the logs would have been removed. In the mean time, Mr. Brian Taylor heard of the find and stopped by to see it. He got very excited and came back the next day with a history of the lot showing it was homesteaded by a Leonidas Alfred Pritchett sometime in 1865-1866. He lived there for 11 years then sold the home and property to William J. Larkins. This all did not make much difference to me, until I started thinking about the name Leonidas. I had only know 2 other people with such a name, my Grandfather and my eldest Son Nathan whose middle name was after my Grandfather. I Googled Leonidas Alfred Pritchett's name and found he had a daughter born in 1865, Catherine Leticia Pritchett who married William Pollock Chambers, whose firstborn son was William Leonidas Chambers, my Grandfather. The person who built the Log Home we had found was my Great-Great Grandfather, and my Great Grandmother lived there for 11 years.
We are just about finish with the restoration of the Log Home, and plan on moving our Office to that location next month. We would like to invite you to our Open House to be held on November 30, 2012 from 3:00 to 6:00pm. Mayor Papageorge had agreed to do the ribbon cutting, but unfortunately passed away. We have asked Brian Taylor to Dedicate the Log Home and office at 6:00pm.
This has been a remarkable journey with countless miracles or coincidences that have led us to this point. The people of Farr West have been remarkable in support of this effort, and I would like to thank all of them for their best wishes. Our intent is to allow anyone that wants to visit the Circa 1866 Log Home any time during our business hours.
Thank you very much
Randy
Randy K. Chambers
R. Ray Ward Const. Co.
